Is Romney actually leading in the polls or are some people delusional?

[noname2200]

HappySqurriel said:

While it is not really in their "job description", the President of the United States has a lot of power to influence the house and the senate (as well as many pseudo governmental bodies like the Federal Reserve) and can have a very large impact on the economy. There are factors outside of their control, and their impact is not immediate, but they actually do have a lot of economic power.

The stimulus (for example) was completely misguided. Had the focus been on building (or repairing) infastructure that would enable future job creation it would (likely) have long term positive impacts in the economy; for example, building the next generation internet backbone that connects all states (potentially leading to the United States being able to provide more internet connections at higher speeds than anywhere else in the world) would have been a better use of money than spending it on "green energy" companies that would soon go bankrupt.

Let's say that the President of the United States is the single most influential individual in how the American economy pans out.

In light of the fact that he's merely a portion of the federal government, that the federal government is not the only governmental entity in the United States, that the totality of the governments in the United States are only a fraction of the actors in the US economy, and that the US economy is increasingly interreliant with the various economies of the world, can you truly and honestly say that it's wise to pin such an inordinate amount of responsibility on him for the economy?

I can not.

Criticism of the president, or any other single actor, for his individuals contributions and errors is fair game. Criticism of the president for the totality of the economy, fair or foul, is asinine and reductionist.